Notes

This work bears likeness to The Poet Prince (sold by Strauss & Co in October 2017, lot 589) and a companion work, O Poliziano¹ where Alexis Preller pays homage to Angelo Ambrogini, commonly known by his nickname Poliziano, the Italian Renaissance poet and classical scholar, a close associate of Lorenzo de’ Medici in 15th century Florence. Both these works were shown at Preller’s last exhibition in 1975 at the Goodman Gallery in Hyde Park. The exhibition was characterised by paired examples of mythical portraits such as these, as well as those of Apollo and Icarus, two towers of Babel, a pair of shells and a final version of his climatic work, Marathon.     

Over a lifetime Preller had produced a series of symbolic portrait heads, unusual in that their prototypes looked as though they were precise renderings of sculptural fragments. Two early works of 1948, Head with Cracks and Greek Boy, appear to be accurate renderings of wooden sculptures with painful longitudinal fissures. The images resemble paintings of early religious polychrome sculptures or icons.

Executed in 1973, this portrait belongs to a dynasty of works, a long line of iconic profile heads of mythical gods, kings, princes and angels. These powerful symbolic images of floating or disembodied heads all relate to this notion of a sculptural fragment. The semi-profile of this Florentine prince floats, disembodied, against a recessive dark field. His conical red hat, similar to those seen in the intense Italian Renaissance portraits of Antonello da Messina, is topped by a shiny golden spike which is mirrored below the neckline and collar by three further spikes, sharply isolating the head from the recessive darkness.

Unlike the Poet Prince of 1975, this example appears benign with vacant eyes, fair hair and an enigmatic smile.   Here is a young man with light complexion, glowing cheeks and rounded jawline. A series of floating eggs or small spheres in white, duck egg blue and black are suspended ambiguously in space as he gazes into the distance lost in thought.

Preller’s focus on this mythical wise young poet reflects his lifelong interest in Italian culture and the far-reaching transformative power of the poetic and the scholarly in creative endeavours², both of the past and in the present.

1. Esmé Berman and Karel Nel. (2009) Alexis Preller: Africa, the Sun and Shadows, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, page 321.

2. Ibid, page 237.

We are grateful to Professor Karel Nel, co-author of Alexis Preller, A Visual Biography for this catalogue entry.

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by the current owner.

The Coba Diederiks Collection.